Islay Festival 2017: Bowmore open day

The exclusivity of Bowmore’s Fèis bottlings prompted large queues of hopeful whisky fans to form outside the seaside distillery overnight. In scenes familiar to the distillery every year, hundreds of visitors lined the streets in the hope of being able to take away a coveted bottle of Bowmore 27 Year Old, or Bowmore 11 Year Old when they went on sale at 10am on Wednesday (31 May). The Bowmore 19 Year Old, a ‘bottle your own’ edition, had already sold out earlier in the week, and with limited quantities available of the remaining two expressions, many were turned away disappointed.

Luckily, Scotchwhisky.com editor Becky Paskin managed to get her hands on two of the last bottles available, and spoke to Bowmore brand ambassador Gordon Dundas about what makes this year’s limited Fèis Ìle editions, so coveted.